Calif. Softball Coach Apologizes for Making Players Drink From Shoe
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. -- A California high school girl's softball coach has apologized for requiring eight players who struck out during a recent game to drink soda pop out of a team member's shoe, a school district official said.
The South Tahoe High School varsity players drank the soda at a team slumber party on May 1, hours after a game against Wooster High School of Reno, Nev.
"It was meant as a joke, and obviously it went too far," Lake Tahoe Unified School District superintendent James Tarwater said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A parent complained about the incident and coach Anneliese Neitling has since apologized, Tarwater said. It was a young coach's mistake and the matter will be addressed during Neitling's postseason evaluation, he said.
"People learn from mistakes," Tarwater said. "She does a good job pulling the team together, morale-wise and support-wise."
Neitling, who just completed her second season in charge of the school's softball program, did not return phone calls for comment.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}South Tahoe Athletic Director Don Borges declined to comment on the incident. But he said his coaches are required to attend a preseason orientation meeting in which hazing is addressed.
Hazing is an act that subjects someone to possible physical harm, personal degradation or disgrace in order to be accepted into a group.
South Tahoe High School is located in California, about 6 miles from the state's border with Nevada, and is a member of the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The school adheres to the Nevada hazing law, which states that hazing is a misdemeanor offense if there isn't substantial bodily harm and a gross misdemeanor if significant bodily harm occurs.